Every time I go to the grocery store, I am putting my bank account at risk. I can enter the store with only two things on my list, and I exit the store $100 lighter. I just can’t resist taking home all the yummy things I come across — it’s one of my many personality flaws. But, recently, after putting together a budget (of sorts), I realized that if I continued my current rate of food purchasing and consumption, I’d not only be broke, I’d be enormous! So when I made my latest “quick trip” to the grocery store, I felt confident in my ability to simply pick up the few items I needed.

But as I walked through the produce section, I was overcome by the smell of summer. It was so seductive a smell, it stopped me in my tracks (of course, the smell of most food will stop me in my tracks, but this was different).

I turned in the direction of the smell and saw a big pile of nectarines at the perfect degree of ripeness. As I stood there and breathed in deeply, all sorts of wonderful childhood summer memories came flooding back.

After that, there was no way some of those nectarines weren’t coming home with me. And it all went downhill from there. I was sucked deeper into the produce section, where I came upon some perfect avocados and wonderful, juicy tomatoes. Which then led me to the seafood counter for a nice piece of tuna to go with my new produce friends. And then … well, you get the picture. At least $100 later, I was leaving the store.

While the sweet smell of nectarines may have led to the bounty in my shopping cart, the sweet smell of success could lead you to a load of great prizes. Any idea what I’m talking about? Why, our fifth annual Road Warrior Search, of course!

This is your last month to enter and secure your chance to be crowned our ultimate Road Warrior. Just in case you’ve been stuck at a grocery store or something, here’s a recap (you can get all of the details on page 8).

The contest ends promptly at 11:59 p.m. Central on August 31, 2006. To enter, you simply have to go to www.americanwaymag.com and click on “Be Our Next Road Warrior — Enter Now.”

And what do you get for your troubles? If you’re the grand-prize winner, you’ll receive two million Hilton HHonors Bonus Points, good at participating Hilton family hotels around the world, as well as a million American Airlines AAdvantage miles.

The second-place winner will receive a Bose Lifestyle 48 home entertainment system, a Bose SoundDock, and a pair of Bose QuietComfort 2 Acoustic Noise Cancelling headphones.

Three third-place winners will each receive a five-day, four-night vacation for two at the Hilton Waikoloa Village in Hawaii from AmericanAirlines Vacations, as well as a two-year subscription to T-Mobile HotSpot Wi-Fi Internet service.

Additionally, all five winners will each receive a Toughbook CF-74 laptop computer, courtesy of Panasonic.

And even if you’re not one of our top five winners, you still might get to see your name and part of your entry in print when we publish our Road Warrior issue on January 15, 2007.

So please go enter and give me something fun to read! Especially since I’m going to have lots of free time on my hands now that I’m staying out of grocery stores!